Room 322, Wednesday Afternoon

[not_every_mage]

This was something new for Anders.

This very clean side of the room (not that he had much to be messy with, truth be told), this fussed-over hair and carefully selected shirt -- he'd never had to do any of it in the Circle. In the Circle things like this went faster, and much more direct. Move too slow, and Templars were more likely to notice and intervene.

All this fussing was silly, he realized. He wasn't even completely certain this was about more than friendship. But that didn't stop him from letting down his ponytail, tying it back up,and then changing his mind and brushing it over his neck again as he waited for Kathy to arrive and put into motion their movie plans.

[OOC: For one, please!]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"It's fun," Kathy said with a small laugh. "And sometimes it makes me wish I were slightly less decent as a person. Do you know how many gymnastics tournaments I could win like this, Anders? All of them."

[not_every_mage]

"Probably a lot of bar bets, too," Anders speculated. "I'm sure there are better uses, but you have to have some fun with it."

[spin_kick_snap]

"How many bar bets could be made over stuff I can do?" Kathy asked, thus proving she'd never been in a bar in her life. "You mean, like, a race? Or whether or not I can wrap my leg around my head?"

[not_every_mage]

It was a pity Anders choked on popcorn at the thought of Kathy putting her leg around her head and went into a coughing fit. He didn't look very suave that way.

Red-faced, he said -- as if nothing had happened -- "Like that. Or how long can you run in place, can you jump over something without getting hurt. Things like that."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was more than happy to clap Anders on the back a few times to help him stop coughing. "You okay?" she checked. "Something go down the wrong tube? I can get you another drink if you want."

Sorry, Anders' pride. Kathy was bad at this game.

[not_every_mage]

"No, no, I'm fine," Anders said sheepishly. "But warn me if you're going to talk about putting your leg over your head again."

[spin_kick_snap]

"What? I--oh." Kathy blushed; she might not have any personal experience, but the internet existed. She knew exactly what Anders meant.

"For the sake of your continued breathing, I should probably not offer to demonstrate, huh?"

[not_every_mage]

"Not if you want us to ever find out whether Ferrite Guy saves the day," Anders agreed. "Are you terribly disappointed to lose the chance to show off?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Blushing. Kathy was so blushing right now. "I'll live," she said quickly. "It loses something when you're obviously showing off. I'll wait until you're least expecting it or something."

[not_every_mage]

"And I'll try not to choke on anything when you do," Anders said, tilting his head at her. he decided he liked her blushes. Kathy? What would you do if I tried to kiss you?"

He hoped his tone made it clear that the kiss would be a nice bonus, not the ruiner of his night either way.

[spin_kick_snap]

It was a very good thing he'd deciding that he liked her blushes. With a question like that, they weren't going to be going anywhere for awhile.

"Probably do my best not to flail so I didn't hit you in the eye or something?" she answered honestly. "And worry that my complete lack of, umm, kissing experience will show and ruin everything?"

The only kisses she'd ever shared had happened while she was someone completely different. She was pretty sure that didn't count.

[not_every_mage]

Anders laughed.

"Unless you throw up on me, I don't think you're going to ruin everything," he said. "Though now I'm going to worry I might taint kissing for you, and I wouldn't want to do that."

His tone was light, but he halfway meant it. He didn't want to kiss her casually if she was saving kisses for a more involved relationship. But if it was just a question of lack of opportunity ...

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy turned bright red. She wasn't saving kisses, no. She just hadn't really had the opportunity to share any that weren't under the influence of Fandom weirdness.

"I don't think you'd taint anything!" she said quickly. "I mean, umm, probably not? You don't feel like throwing up, either, do you?"

[not_every_mage]

He hadn't, though (now that she mentioned it) talking about queasiness and tainting things wasn't doing his stomach any favors.

"I wouldn't have started talking about kissing if I did," he told her.

[spin_kick_snap]

Hey! He'd started the talking about throwing up! She was just continuing it!

...Oh god, she was the worst at this.

"Good to know," she said, licking her lips. Out of nervousness, rather than flirtation, but it was something, at least? "I...I don't, either."

The sexy talk was strong with this one.

"But I think, if you still want to kiss me--" You know, after the vomit talk "--I'd really like to kiss you back."

[not_every_mage]

"Really." Anders said, looking into her eyes.

And then -- before they could go back to talking about vomit or blushing -- he moved in for a gentle kiss.

[spin_kick_snap]

Good call, Anders! Both the stopping Kathy from talking bit and also going for a gentle kiss rather than a...kiss of any other type, really. Gentle was about Kathy's speed.

His lips were soft against her and a little bit of salt still clung to his lower one. If she just kind of brushed it off with her tongue, that would be okay, right?

[not_every_mage]

It was more than all right. Anders shivered a bit at the brush of her tongue, and opened his mouth just the slightest bit to encourage further contact. He wasn't going to pull back for a good long time.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy leaned a little closer, following his lead and opening her mouth, too. Kissing was...yes, kissing was definitely nice. Good to know.

Anders was definitely much better at this kissing thing than he'd let on.

[not_every_mage]

Put a bunch of teenagers together in a tower with nothing to do but study magic, and see how much kissing gets done. Anders was practiced at it.

He pressed forward, letting his hands rest on Kathy's waist while they continued to kiss.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy's hand cupped Anders' cheek, drawing his face closer still. She had no idea what she was doing, but following Anders' lead seemed like the best idea. He knew what he was doing, obviously.

Eventually though, there were explosions on the screen. Kathy startled, having pretty much tuned out anything that wasn't kissing, and broke away. "Sorry!" she said, cheeks flushed, either from the kiss or embarrassment or both. "Gotta say, though, I'd heard of kisses that caused fireworks. Explosions are kinda knew though."

[not_every_mage]

"I'm a gifted man," Anders said, a bit of a shaky laugh in his voice as he leaned back and rearranged his clothes. "Why go for fireworks when explosions are an option?"

He added, more certainly (now that everything had stopped spinning) "And you don't need to apologize. That was nice."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I think we might have missed some stuff with the movie," Kathy said, ducking her head and playing with her hair a little. She felt nervous again, embarrassment creeping back up. "That was nice," she agreed. "Really nice. Is that another magic power? Good kisser?"

[not_every_mage]

"I have no idea who Ferrite Guy is fighting now," Anders admitted. "And -- let's go with that explanation. I put enchanted lip balm on before you came over so you wouldn't be disappointed."

The mundane but honest explanation struck him as, well, mundane. And somehow he didn't think Kathy was asking for a literal explanation.

[spin_kick_snap]

"He's being attacked and getting kidnapped by terrorists," Kathy said, glancing up at the screen. "And if you really had enchanted lip balm, you could probably sell it at the store and make a million." She peeked up at him from under her lashes. "Sorry I didn't have any to wear for you today..."